scholarly journals The Chinese Notional Passive Construction under the View of Cognitive Construction Grammar

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-110
Author(s):  
Liulin ZHANG
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Language ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Special Situation ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
State Construction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Cognitive Construction Grammar

The notional passive construction (NPC, henceforth) is claimed to be the most common form of passive and the earliest mode of passive expression in Chinese. However, under the view of cognitive construction grammar, NPC remains a mystery with its form not clearly defined and its function not particularly discussed. Taking a character-based historical approach, this paper studies the form designated by NPC, the ‘theme + verbal’ structure in corpus data. Results show that the ‘theme + verbal’ structure is extremely stable in the history of the Chinese language, denoting change of state. In conjunction with some cross-linguistic findings, a change-of-state construction can thereby be proposed for the form ‘theme + verbal’. Accordingly, the idea of the so-called “notional passive construction” is challenged in the way that it essentially refers to a special situation of the change-of-state construction when the event expressed by the verbal is not likely to occur spontaneously- it is not a construction itself, yet plausibly passive.

scholarly journals Ficar, tornar-se e virar em construções relacionais: variação e/ou mudança construcional?

2018 ◽  
pp. 68-82
Author(s):  
Bruna Gois Pavão Ferreira ◽  
Márcia Dos Santos Machado Vieira
Keyword(s):  
Central Place ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
State Change ◽  
Functional Differences ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
State Construction ◽  
Constructionist Approach

Based on constructionist approach of Goldberg (1995, 2003, 2013) and Traugott & Trousdale (2013), this research focuses on the relational construction of state change and the variation/alternation between the verbs ficar, tornar-se e virar (stay, become and turn) in this type of construction in Brazilian Portuguese. The verbal forms that alternate are investigated in the same context (predicative construction of a change of state) and motivations for the variation to occur. The main objective of this research is to identify: (i) constructional verbal patterns of change of state in Brazilian Portuguese based on frequency and in the relations of form and/or meaning by family similarities existing in the instances of use of such verbal forms; (ii) the configuration of the relational construction of state change (in view of state construction formulated in Goldberg, 1995); (iii) the functional differences between the microconstructions with ficar, tornar-se e virar, seeking to analyze how the variation/alternation between such verbs occurs in the construction of change of state. The data were collected in academic articles, journalistic texts and texts accessed in some sites of evaluation or complaint and analyzed according to some parameters, among which: (a) the type of subject and of predicative syntagma; (b) the more permanent/more transient aspect of the construction; (c) the degree of formality of the context in which it was recorded. This paper also evidences the central place of variation in Construction Grammar.

Exploring the pedagogical potential of vertical and horizontal relations in the constructicon:The case of the family of subjective-transitive constructions with decir in Spanish

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-145
Author(s):  
Francisco Gonzálvez-García
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Inheritance System ◽  
The Family ◽  
Secondary Predication ◽  
Vertical Level ◽  
Cognitive Construction Grammar

Abstract This paper explores the pedagogical implications and implementations of a Cognitive Construction Grammar (Goldberg, Adele E. 2006. Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. New York: Oxford University Press) approach for the teaching of construal in the L2 class of Spanish at an advanced level. To this end, this paper focuses on instances of secondary predication (involving a direct object and an object-related XPCOMP) with decir “say” and other verbs of saying and calling in present-day Spanish, under the rubric of the denominative subjective-transitive construction. This construction comprises a number of lower-level configurations involving a reflexive direct object (the reflexive subjective-transitive construction), and an imperative verb (the imperative subjective-transitive construction). The verb decir is also frequently attested in the reflex passive construction (the impersonal subjective-transitive construction), under which two different, though closely connected, lexically-filled lo que se dice XPCOMP configurations can be posited, which may function as a focusing/emphasizer subjunct or as a summative conjunct in present-day Spanish. A default inheritance system of the type invoked in Cognitive Construction Grammar is shown to capture broad and specific generalizations at a horizontal level (among the verbs attested in the (sub-)construction(s)) and a vertical level (among constructions of varying degrees of specificity) and can thus be informally used to optimize the pedagogical efficiency of the input for the explicit instruction of grammar in the advanced Spanish L2 class.

scholarly journals Cognitive reality of constructions as a theoretical and methodological challenge in historical linguistics

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Zehentner
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Methodological Challenge ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Current ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Cognitive Construction Grammar

Abstract This squib discusses empirical challenges incurred by assuming cognitive reality as a defining feature of constructions and the constructional network, as done in most usage-based, cognitive construction grammar approaches. Specifically, it zooms in on the methodological challenges in identifying cognitively plausible constructions in historical data, in particular when taking a highly exploratory, bottom-up approach with very little pre-selection or pre-analysis. I illustrate this issue with the example of a current project on PPs in the history of English, and the various functions these have in combination with verbs (from prototypical adjuncts to complements). I argue that the constraints of historical data make it necessary to find different, new ways to determine which abstractions and distinctions are likely to have been represented in minds of historical language users, and to furthermore identify changes in constructional networks over time.

A Study into the Prototypicality of Chinese Labile Verbs

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liulin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Spontaneous Occurrence ◽  
Cognitive Construction Grammar

Trying to situate Chinese into the typology of labile verbs (verbs that may be used transitively or intransitively), this paper analyzes Chinese labile verbals under the framework of cognitive construction grammar. By exhaustively looking at labile verbals in a small corpus, it is found that as an isolating language in which causative (transitive use) or anticausative (intransitive use) is not morphologically marked, Chinese is particularly rich in labile verbals. After estimating how often several target verbals are used transitively and intransitively, two factors grounded in human cognition are revealed determining verbal lability in Chinese: change of state and spontaneity of the event. Change-of-state events give way to two competing profiling strategies, realized as a transitive construction and an intransitive construction, respectively. The degree and direction (transitive-dominated or intransitive-dominated) of verbal lability are sensitive to the likelihood of spontaneous occurrence of the event.

A Left History of Liquorice: What It Means to Write "Left" History

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan D. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Historical Study ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

This article is part of a special Left History series reflecting upon changing currents and boundaries in the practice of left history, and outlining the challenges historians of the left must face in the current tumultuous political climate. This series extends a conversation first convened in a 2006 special edition of Left History (11.1), which asked the question, “what is left history?” In the updated series, contributors were asked a slightly modified question, “what does it mean to write ‘left’ history?” The article charts the impact of major political developments on the field of left history in the last decade, contending that a rising neoliberal and right-wing climate has constructed an environment inhospitable to the discipline’s survival. To remain relevant, Palmer calls for historians of the left to develop a more “open-ended and inclusive” understanding of the left and to push the boundaries of inclusion for a meaningful historical study of the left. To illustrate, Palmer provides a brief materialist history of liquorice to demonstrate the mutability of left history as a historical approach, rather than a set of traditional political concerns.

Menapak Jejak Seni Gambuh dalam Naskah-Naskah Panji Melayu

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Priyo Joko Purnomo ◽  
Wahyudhi Wahyudhi
Keyword(s):  
Performance Art ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Historical Aspects ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
University Library ◽  
Critical Method ◽  
History Of ◽  
Performing Art

Gambuh as the performing art in Malay area became one of the cultural transformation evidences of the close relation between Java and Malay. The history of gambuh performance in Malay area recorded in the archipelago’s manuscripts, one of them is a manuscript entitled Surat Gambuh which is being the collection of Leiden University Library. This paper attempts to examine the contents of the manuscript in order to reconstruct the gambuh performance art in Malay and also trace the historical aspects. As far as the research had been done, there have been no studies of this manuscript so it is necessary to first transliterate it using a critical method. Furthermore, the historical aspects are explored using a historical approach by adding data from other texts of Panji. The analysis result of the reflection of Malay gambuh performance rules and historical aspects show that there is a transformation of work from oral tradition to written tradition, the cultural acculturation between Java and Malay, and the Islamic influence behind Malay gambuh.

Null se constructions in Brazilian and European Portuguese: morphosyntactic deletion or emergence of new constructions?

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Augusto Soares da Silva ◽  
Susana Afonso ◽  
Dafne Palú ◽  
Karlien Franco
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Methods ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Important Predictor ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Multivariate Statistical Methods ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
The Moment

Abstract Se constructions designate a set of polysemous constructions along a transitivity continuum marked by the clitic se that perform various functions: reflexive/reciprocal, middle, anticausative, passive, and impersonal. A counterpart of these constructions without the clitic – the null se construction – is also attested. Based on an extensive usage-feature and profile-based analysis, and using multivariate statistical methods, we analyze, considering Cognitive Grammar, the conceptual, structural, and lectal factors that determine the choice between overt and null se constructions. The results of the study show that the null constructions are far more frequent in Brazilian (BP) than in European Portuguese (EP). In BP, the focus on the moment of change is a crucial factor for the overt/null variation in reflexive/reciprocal, middle, anticausative, and impersonal constructions. If the moment of the change of state is profiled, the overt se construction is usually produced. If the moment of change is not profiled, the null se construction is preferred. External factors also play a role in the variation. Register is an important predictor for the observed variation of the anticausative construction, and the only predictor for the overt/null variation in the case of the passive construction. In EP, the null se variant is mainly limited to anticausative constructions. In all cases of null constructions, there is a shift to an absolute construal, which has an impact on the way that the transitivity continuum is conceptualized.

Between East Asia and Southeast Asia: Nanyang Studies, Chinese Migration, and National Jinan University, 1927–1940 (在東亞與東南亞之間：南洋研究、華人移民、與國立暨南大學,1927–1940)

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-56
Author(s):  
Leander Seah (謝枝嶙)
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Port Cities ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
Chinese Migrants ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Migration ◽  
Chinese Intellectuals ◽  
Trading Networks

Global port cities have played important roles in the migration of ethnic Chinese worldwide. This article argues that the scholarship on Chinese migration between port cities in East Asia and Southeast Asia has overemphasized business and trading networks. It suggests instead that other topics should be examined since Chinese migration has been complex and multi-faceted. This article does so through analyzing the history of Nanyang studies, a Chinese-language scholarly field that is renowned among Chinese intellectuals in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Nanyang studies began with the establishment of the Nanyang Cultural Affairs Bureau at Jinan University, the first school in China for Chinese migrants, because the Bureau was the first systematic attempt by China-based scholars to study the Nanyang (Southeast Asia). This article analyzes the history of Nanyang studies from the Bureau’s founding in 1927 to 1940, when the center for Nanyang studies shifted to Singapore in the Nanyang. 全球港口城市和全球華人移民已有密切關係。本文認為，關於東亞和東南亞的港口城市之間華人移民的學術著作過度注重商業貿易網絡。它建議由於華人移民是複雜的，多方面的，所以其他議題也有重要性。因此，本文將通過南洋研究的歷史而分析華人移民。南洋研究在東亞和東南亞是個著名的學術領域。它的起源於南洋文化教育事業部之暨南大學的創辦。這是因為暨南是中國第一所華僑華人學府，而南洋文化教育事業部是中國學者第一個正式研究南洋(東南亞)的機構。本文將分析南洋研究的歷史，從成立於1927年到1940年轉移到南洋之中的新加坡為止。 (This article is in English).

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